TOLD by the PIONEERS - Washington Secretary of State

Told
by the Pioneers
Lieutenant." The result was that Smith was elected Captain, Treen,
First Lieutenant, and every other man in the company had a vote for
Second Lieutenant.
This isolated corner of the country was not frequently visited by
the great men of the Nation, although I do remember seeing Wm. H.
Seward, the scar fresh upon his face, which the would-be assassin had
placed there, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by Booth in
Ford's theater in 'Washington, D. C.
Mr. Seward spoke in the Tacoma hall, where the Knights of Pyihias
hall is now located. Later, on another occasion, I remember of
an evening when the people of Olympia were to be addressed from
wagons, which had been drawn up about the corner of Main and Third
streets, where the old Pacific Hotel then stood. Boy-like, I was to
the fore, and occupied a seat I found vacant in one of the wagons.
I was somewhat astonished when a gentleman near me arose and began
to talk. I found out afterward that the man was Schuyler Colfax,
aft.erward Speaker of the House of Representatives, and still
more recently, Vice-President, during the administration of President
Grant.
I recall the half-masting of flags over the public buildings here
when the news of Lincoln's assassination was received, but was hardly
able to appreciate the full import of the deed, or to fully sympathize
"\\ith the deep feeling entertained by our patriotie citizens. I
recollect that the old Presbyterian church was effectively decorated
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for the Sunday services following' the assassination, in the national
colon; and also black. Considerable feeling was aroused in the church
by this act of the pastor.
EDWARD POJfEROr
Garfield County
Carrying the emphatic declaration "54-40 or fig'ht", a long caravan,
known as the Whitman train, wound across the plains in 1846,
leaving in its wake a long trail of graves.
In one of the wagons rode Edward Trimble, his wife, Abrilla, and
their four children, Horace, Frank, Angus and Mary Jane, who was
then four veal'S old.
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At the Platte river, Pawnees attacked the train. 'Yhen the caravan
was again on its way, Mrs Trimble rode beside her fatherless
children, her husband's gun in the hands of her oldest SOIL
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